Underground Railroad

Harrisburg played a prominent role in advancing the Union cause before the Civil War through its sympathy for former slaves who had escaped servitude from the South. The Harrisburg Anti-Slavery Society was founded as early as 1836, and its influence brought William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglas (sic) to a rally at the Dauphin County Courthouse in 1847. During this period, Harrisburg became a key station in the Underground Railroad from Maryland northward to Canada. Many people secretly opened their doors to provide haven to escapees who under federal law could be reclaimed by their owners, and parts of the old Eighth Ward neighborhood, especially homes on Tanners Avenue, later became known as a nucleus of this activity. At the corner of Tanners Avenue and South Street stood the church of Harrisburg's oldest African American congregation, Wesley Union A.M.E. Zion Church. Founded in 1829 from an earlier organization dating to 1817, the congregation first met in a log building at S. Third and Mulberry Streets. Its presence at Tanners Avenue and South Street was first established in 1838 with a one-story brick building, replaced by a larger building in 1862, remodeled in 1886, and followed by a final church there in 1894 before demolition in 1915 for the expansion of Capitol Park. After two additional moves, Wesley Church survived at Fifth and Camp Streets in Uptown Harrisburg and continued its tradition of community outreach and service.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania · United States